The Silhouette Portrait® contour (plotter) cutter will cut transfer paper, card, fabric, transfer film and vinyl. It connects to your computer via a simple USB cable and has the ability to register and cut printed materials up to A4 size. The included software* enables you to cut fonts, design shapes of your own or download designs from the Silhouette online store. An optional software upgrade or software plugin will also enable you to open and cut .svg (vector) files.

*You can download the basic Silhouette Studio® software for free by clicking here. We recommend doing this before purchasing the cutter to familiarise yourself with the image design and set-up process and check that you are happy with what is involved.

Features:

203.2mm (8") cutting width x 3m cutting length

Auto-feed function - simply line the paper up and press the feed button

What materials can the Silhouette Portrait® cut?
The Silhouette is designed to cut a variety of materials including vinyl, paper, specialty patterned papers, cardstock, vellum, iron-on heat transfer material, fabric (when using Silhouette Interfacing products) and sticker paper. It will also cut a variety of other specialty materials. The Silhouette has a cutting force of 210gf and includes a blade that can extend to approximately 1mm in depth when using the standard blade.
However, there is still a limitation depending on the material type's density and make up. Certain materials that are overly dense (such as thin metals, acrylic or acetate, for example) may not be able to be cut well or at all and can impair the blade. On dense materials such as mylar, doflex and plasticard you are limited to around 120 micron with the Silhouette machines due to the density of the material – any thicker than this and the blade will not be able to completely penetrate the media. Certain materials that have abrasive natures (such as thicker chipboard or sandpaper) may also impair the blade or dull it very quickly. On the other side of the spectrum, certain fibrous materials (such as select felt materials or handmade papers) may not be held together densely enough for successful cutting.
Testing can be performed on special material types to find whether or not they can be cut successfully by using the Test Cut feature.